A delegation of agitating industrialists from Morbi's ceramics industry accompanied by senior Congress leaders from Gujarat met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday and apprised him of the issues that had led them to stop production.

During the 35 minutes meeting with the PM, the industrialists discussed five core issues related to the ceramics industry. "We put fourth our demands, which included reduction in excise duty, 10 per cent rebate on export, alterative supply of gas to the ceramic industry, allowing coal gas based gasifiers approved by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and imposition of anti-dumping duty on China,'' one of the delegates Chunilal Patel said. He said the PM has assured the industrialists of full support and they are hopeful of getting central government's help in sorting out their issues.

Meanwhile, the stand-off between Morbi's ceramics industry and the state government over gas prices continued as unit owners sat on a token hunger strike from Thursday. They have started to go a hunger strike if their demands are not met soon.

Around 600 ceramics industrial units in Morbi have been on strike since November 27 and over 3 lakh people have become jobless since the shutdown that has also led to an increase in prices of tiles. "Our agitation is intensifying with every passing day. The number of protestors is increasing daily," a leader of the agitating industrialists Sukhdev Patel said. The indefinite strike since November 28 has resulted in losses running into hundreds of crores for the Morbi industry.